“The city, in particular, already gets a huge premium from this spending. Several years ago I broke down federal spending on a host of social programs and found that the city received nearly four times the national per capita average of welfare expenditures, three times the average in Medicaid, and twice the average in subsidized housing spending. The city even received far more per capita than other major cities like Los Angeles and Chicago.

“Consequently, there is no major pot of gold waiting for New York, only perhaps a few more scraps of pork sent our way. At most, an old Lefty like Rangel may be able to use his chairmanship to block GOP legislation, but that isn’t the same as promoting an agenda that actually benefits New York. But after waiting so long to get back into power, the Charlie Rangels of the world no doubt need to beat their chests a little for effect.”